What Happens in an Internet Minute in 2017?

Just a month ago, it was revealed that Facebook has more than two billion active monthly users. That means that in any given month, more than 25% of Earth’s population logs in to their Facebook account at least once.

This kind of scale is almost impossible to grasp.

Here’s one attempt to put it in perspective: imagine Yankee Stadium’s seats packed with 50,000 people, and multiply this by a factor of 40,000. That’s about how many different people log into Facebook every month worldwide.

A Smaller Window

The Yankee Stadium analogy sort of helps, but it’s still very hard to picture.

The scale of the internet is so great, that it doesn’t make sense to look at the information on a monthly basis, or even to use daily figures.

Instead, let’s drill down to just what happens in just one internet minute:

Created each year by Lori Lewis and Chadd Callahan of Cumulus Media, the above graphic shows the incredible scale of e-commerce, social media, email, and other content creation that happens on the web.

Content Competition

If you’ve ever had a post on Facebook or Instagram fizzle out, it’s safe to say that the above proliferation of content in our social feeds is part of the cause.

In a social media universe where there are no barriers to entry and almost infinite amounts of competition, the content game has tilted to become a “winner take all” scenario. Since people don’t have the time to look at the 452,200 tweets sent every minute, they naturally gravitate to the things that already have social proof.

People look to the people they trust to see what’s already being talking about, which is why influencers are more important than ever to marketers.

Eyes on the Prize

For those that are able to get the strategy and timing right, the potential spoils are salivating:

The never-ending challenge, however, is how to stand out from the crowd.

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Jeff is the Editor-in-Chief of Visual Capitalist, a media site that creates and curates visuals on business and investing. He has been quoted or featured on Business Insider, Forbes, CNBC, MarketWatch, The Huffington Post, The World Economic Forum, and Fast Company.